


Only Once

by siboydun



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: M/M, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 04:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14992394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siboydun/pseuds/siboydun
Summary: Blinded by new light, Basil finds himself in the Glade. An unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people.. wait.. no. Boys. Unfamiliar boys. Surrounded by confusion and frustration and anger, Basil learns to find his way through his hardships. Though tough as it might seem, Basil does find a way. And along that way, he finds someone else too.





	Only Once

_ Noise. That’s what I heard. Not anything in particular. Not breathing. Not a heartbeat. Not people or wind. But noise. And that continued to be heard for what seemed like forever. I knew that I was alive, for I could feel my body moving. But I couldn’t figure out how because I felt as though I was restricted. And then I realized that something was indeed, as I had thought, not right.  _

 

_ The noise became higher, louder, more rushed. It pounded against my ear drums and I wanted to feel myself wince. But I didn’t, I couldn’t. I continued in this state for another forever and was almost pushed to the edge before I felt something shift. _

_ The shift snapped and broke the noise, breaking me along with it. The ringing noise moved in my ears before I felt it fade away. I relaxed slightly and began to hear myself breathe. My mind beginning to tell itself that it was okay. Everything turned hazy, and then, I woke up.  _

  
  


I awoke to the sound of grinding metal and rattling chains. I snapped my eyes open and felt my breath hitch in my chest. I coughed harshly in the musty air, moving to lean against something but only found myself falling onto the floor beneath me, cold metal hitting my face. Gasping at the impact, it only caused me to cough more. 

 

I leaned upwards onto my elbows and looked around, noticing how dark it was. I pinpointed various things in the dark, such as crates of supplies, barrels, pens, and large amounts of mesh and cloth. I raised a brow before leaning up fully. I knelt onto the ground, listening. There was no sound. I didn’t like that.

 

I started to get nervous, unsure of what was happening more than when I had woken up. Moving around and towards a corner of the room I was in, I placed my hands against the wall. And just in time too, as suddenly, the room gave a large groan before surging upwards. 

 

I grabbed onto the wall and held myself in place as the room moved upwards, everything rattling in it’s ascent. A light finally appeared above me, then passed me, and went down below as I went upwards. The light appeared again and continued as I ascended towards what must have to be the surface. 

 

But as soon as the room began to move upwards, it’s started to slow down. The rattling stopped and I could no longer hear anything except my quick breathing. Suddenly, a loud creak and a bang happened and light started to pour into the room from above me. It wasn’t a sort of artificial light, it was sunlight. 

 

Shielding my eyes with my arm, I squinted up at the surface, not sure of what to do. When shadows slowly shuffled forwards, I saw the outline of many, many shapes. They were all similar and I guessed them to be living. As my vision focused, I saw the hazy shapes begin to grow into human shapes.

Then a sound happened that I wasn’t expecting; laughing. I raised a brow again before lowering my hand. A few shouts happened and I saw fingers pointing down towards me. One more shout happened and the laughing stopped.

 

A rope with a loop threw itself down and into the room I was in. I stepped back in surprise, tripping over it and stumbling into the wall behind me with a bang. The people above me burst into laughter, causing my cheeks to flush hot. Scowling slightly, I grabbing the rope and pulled myself up and out of the room. Standing up, I didn’t realize that there were so many of them until I could see that they were all there. 

 

But the strange thing was, there were just boys. I creased my eyebrows in confusion before opening my mouth to speak but was caught off guard by a dark skinned boy stepping towards me quite strongly. He looked intimidating. I didn’t know why, but his whole image emitted anger. 

 

I stepped back a little and waited. The boy obviously knew that he had gained the chance to speak as he did.

 

“‘Name’s Alby.” He said in a low, rumbly voice. 

 

I didn’t expect him to say so little. I actually expected much more. I didn’t say anything still, making him squint at me. I just stared at him before seeing him do a curt head nod to behind him. He mumbled something and I crossed my arms over my chest, gripping them tightly. 

 

Then, a sandy blonde haired boy stepped forwards from behind him and stopped in front of me. He looked me up and down, as though inspecting me. Well, he probably was. He then reached forwards and took me by the shoulder, turning me towards an opening in the pack of boys. He flicked his hand, indicating for me to follow.

 

“Follow me.” He said in a calm voice. 

 

I had no reason to not to, so I did. As I followed the blonde, I then noticed my surroundings. 

  
  
  
  


I was walking towards a large, man built tower that was not too much of a ways away from a big outstretch of connected buildings. They seemed to be all apart of some big structure. Many little huts or shacks were connected or standing beside the large building. I looked to the left to see a large open area where many, many hammocks and sleeping bags were resting and hanging. Up on the side, there was a staircase, leading up to a higher area of the building.

  
  
  


On the right, I saw an expanse of clearing. And behind it, a large mass of trees that engulfed that other side of the place I was in with many, many bushes and undergrowth. Beside the clearing and close to the building was an open area with a few, long tables and benches. 

 

Realizing that this wasn’t the only thing that I should be looking at, I was taken aback by seeing four, incredibly massive cement walls surrounding me. They seemed to stretch up for a couple hundred feet, covered with thick vines of ivy. Being so surprised, I stopped walking and turned in a slow circle, looking at where I was. 

 

A chuckle happened from behind me and I turned back around to see the blonde, standing a little ways away. He motioned for me to follow again. So I did, but I didn’t take my eyes off of the walls. He led me towards the tower and started to climb, me following close behind. We reached the top of the tower and the blonde leaned against the railing, looking at me.

 

“I’m gonna tell ya’ a few things about this place, a'ight?” Said the boy in a heavy accent.

 

I nodded in agreement. 

 

“This here place is called the Glade. It’s where you’re gonna live from here on. And I’m sure you’re not gonna like it but too bad, eh?” Said the boy, “Let’s just start with the basics. Each boy here has a job, and with that job, they gotta work. You don’t work, you don’t get anythin’ done.” 

 

I nodded, “What are the jobs?” I was surprised at how deep my voice was. But I shook the thought off and waited for an answer. 

 

“Well, over there, there’s the builders and brick-nicks. They build and tune things up that need it. There’s the slicers, they get the meat we need and take care of the animals. Also, there’s the track-hoes, they work in gardens and help with the cooking. There are also sloppers, but ya don’t wanna be one of them, they clean up after everything and get their hands more dirty then they should be. There’s also baggers, and runners.” He pointed to each area of the Glade in turn for each job.

 

“So there’s gotta be some sort of leader here, eh?” I asked again, “Someone who rallies up everything when needed?”

 

“Yeah, there’s the boy you met earlier, Alby, and me.” The boy informed me, “I’m Newt; second in command. There’s also the Keepers of the jobs. They lead the boys and train and tell them what they need. But Alby’s main leader.”

 

I nodded slowly, “What’s a runner?” The word struck me as something quite interesting but Newt almost rolled his eyes when I asked. 

 

“They’re the boys who run the Maze.” Newt replied, he caught my confusion and continued; “That there’s the Maze. You don’t wanna go in there any time soon.” He pointed towards the large expanse of space beyond the Glade walls. 

 

“And also, there’s a few rules ya need to follow.” Newt said, his tone turning a slight bit serious, “There’s no hurting one another, you can squabble all you want, just no fights. Everyone does their part, no slacking off. And finally, never go into the Maze. That’s not a request. Got it?”

 

I nodded in understanding, “A’ight.” 

 

“Hey, I just noticed, you got an different tone as well, don’t ya?” Newt brought up suddenly.

 

I thought about how I had spoken earlier, “I would guess so, huh.” I said, nodding.

 

Newt scoffed at me, causing me to raise a brow. He shook his head, smiling and turned to climb back down the tower. I followed after him and he led me towards the clearing near the far right of the building where I could smell something delicious. 

 

I was about to veer off and follow the smell of food when a shout happened from up ahead.  My head turned and I looked to see a large crowd of boys circled around something that was upturning dust in the middle. I raised a brow in confusion before walking towards the noise. 

 

As I walked towards the crowd of boys, I seemed to notice something quite different about me. I was taller than most of them. Maybe a few boys were around my height but I couldn’t see a single head that was higher than my own. 

 

I shook my little realization off before walking farther towards the crowd again. They were shouting and cheering for the two boys. Being able to see more, I spotted out that two boys were tussling about, grabbing at each other and throwing punches. I looked to see Newt moving towards the fight. I sighed in relief but the sigh was caught in my throat when I saw that he was laughing. 

 

I was about to go towards Newt when the shouting and cheering stopped. I stopped as well. Looking to see that all eyes were on me and that one of the boys had been thrown out of the circle and was stumbling straight towards me. I grunted in surprise when the boy slammed into my chest. 

 

“Oi!” I exclaimed, “Watch it there!”

  
  


The boy looked up and his eyes seemed to widen in surprise when he saw me. He only stepped away from me before turning his head back to the crowd. All of them were staring at us. I didn’t really know what to do or say so I just shuffled backwards, letting the boy walk away without further confrontation. 

 

I rolled my eyes and started to walk away from the group of boys before I was stopped again by a strange word being shouted at me. 

 

“Greenie!” Shouted a voice.

 

I turned to who had said it and spotted a rather tall looking boy, almost my height, looking straight at me. I moved backwards a bit, unsure of what was going to happen. 

 

Suddenly, an arm slung itself around my shoulder and started to pull me towards the crowd. I looked to see an unfamiliar boy. I moved to push him off but he only held onto me tighter. Feeling rather uncomfortable at this, I was going to push him off harder this time but he only winked at me and shoved me into the clearing where the boy who had shouted “Greenie” was. 

 

I stumbled forwards a little before looking at the boy. He had strangely arched eyebrows and quite a mean looking face. I swallowed silently, and uneasily moved to the side, trying to avoid a fight. But I was startled to hear the word being chanted again.

 

“Greenie! Greenie! Greenie!” They chanted, getting louder and louder.

 

I cursed underneath my breath when the boy in front of me went into a crouched position. I had to get out of this and I guessed the only way was to fight him. It didn’t seem reasonable but it just so happened to be the current inconvenience in front of me. 

 

The boy then spoke up; “Only one rule, Greenie. See if you can stay in the ring for more than fifteen seconds.”

 

“Fifteen seconds, eh?” I muttered softly, “Seems easy enough.”

 

The boy then moved to circle around me. I didn’t move, only watching him curiously. Then, suddenly, he charged at me. Caught by surprise, I was hit full on in the chest, causing it to wind me. I fell over onto my back with a grunt. Not realizing what had happened, a small amount of anger filled my body and brain. I leaned upwards and looked behind me.

 

All of the boys were laughing but I looked to see that I wasn’t out of the ring yet. And the boy was still standing a few feet away from me. I stood up, wobbling a little, but motioned for the boy to come closer. He did. 

Seeing my chance, I stuck out my leg and swung it at the crook of his knees. He gasped in surprise and buckled forwards a little, making me grab him by the shoulders. I then pushed him to the other side of the ring. He seemed to realize what I was doing as he ducked underneath me and kicked at my back. 

 

I grunted harshly at the impact and stumbled forwards a little before leaning back and turning around rather quickly, raising my fist and swinging at whatever was behind me. My fist collided with something hard and I slowed down, realizing what I had done.

 

The boy had toppled over and was lying on the ground, his eyes closed and a rather painful looking bruise forming on his cheek. I winced and stepped back a little, looking around nervously. I saw that the boys that were around me were all silent. Something then slapped itself onto my back, causing me to cough harshly. 

 

“Give it up for the Greenie!” Said the voice to be recognized as Newt.

 

I looked behind me, eyes wide. He was smiling, “No one has  _ ever _ beaten Gally in a brawl.” 

 

I raised a brow, not knowing what to say, so all I did was smile and cough again. I then felt my stomach growl a little, making me look to Newt. He had obviously guessed what I was thinking through my eyes and nodded. He put an arm around my shoulder before leading me towards the kitchens. 

 

“Oi, Fry!” He called, “Greenie’s hungry.”

 

A crash happened in front of me and I stepped back in surprise, creasing my eyebrows in concern. A loud amount of cursing happened before a dark skinned boy stepped forwards and out of a back room, wiping his hands on an apron that hung around his neck. 

 

“Of course he’s hungry, he’s a boy.” The boy called Frypan muttered, “Come here.” He motioned for me to follow.

 

I did so and followed him towards the side of the kitchens were a bunch of food was prepared. He handed me a plate before putting a sandwich on it and giving me a water bottle. He saw the hungry look on my face before rolling his eyes and smiling. 

 

“Thanks, mate.” I said.

 

Frypan raised his eyebrows, “We got another Brit, do we?”

 

“Not sure. He doesn’t sound too much like me.” Newt said, “What do you think big guy?”

 

I shrugged and moved away to walk to the tables, sitting down at one of them and taking a large bite of my sandwich. I heard laughter from behind me and hid a smile, continuing to eat my food. Two thumps happened beside me and I looked to see both Newt and Alby sitting beside me. I gave them both an acknowledging nod, causing them both to nod in response, a smile coming from Newt. 

 

“How’s it goin’?” Newt asked.

 

I just lifted my sandwich a little and swallowed, “Good.” I replied.

 

Newt chuckled a little as I finished my food quickly and stood up. I looked around and Alby seemed to get what I was wondering.

 

“Chuck set a hammock for you in Homestead.” He said simply, pointing towards the open area where hammocks and sleepings bags were placed.

 

I flashed him a smile, “Thank you.” 

 

He nodded a bit, turning back to his own food, leaving me to walk to Homestead. I spotted a newly placed hammock on the outside of the area. Pursing my lips and laying down in it, I adjusted myself to fit in it snugly, the fabric covering me and preventing the cold from reaching my bare arms and legs. 

 

I closed my eyes, and slowed my breathing before drifting off into an uneasy sleep, listening to the faint sound of boys chattering in the distance.

**Author's Note:**

> New book, new website, old fandom.


End file.
